This blog is dedicated to the many many Europeans who, despite continuous disinformation campaigns, do not believe the worst of the Jews (malign and secret Jewish power); who do not disguise anti-Semitism behind the language of anti-Zionism; and who know that Israel embodies the best in democracy.

Sunday, 31 July 2011

“Germany’s behavior toward the UN’s Durban III conference raises serious questions about its commitment to combat modern anti-Semitism. As an event which will commemorate the hatefest held in Durban in 2001, and its Durban Declaration, which singles out only one country on Earth – the Jewish state – it is shocking that Germany has not refused unequivocally to withdraw in solidarity with Israel, the United States, Canada, Italy and other European nations.”Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, and a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Source: JPost by Benjamin Weinthal

Germany’s Foreign Ministry is moving forward with preparations for the September Durban III anti-racism conference in New York City, a UN-sponsored event that presumably will single out Israel for attacks, as have previous “Durban” events.

In addition, speaking last week in the UN Security Council, a German Foreign Ministry undersecretary blasted Israel for its construction of settlements in the West Bank.

When asked if Germany planned to participate in Durban III, a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that the federal government “will decide on its participation in the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the international racism conference in light of the ongoing preparatory negotiations.” The spokeswoman added that the German government was “against racism and all other forms of discrimination. In the context of the international racism conference, [Germany] works to ensure that no individual countries are separately pilloried.”

Last April, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to repair relations that had been strained by Berlin’s criticism of the way Israel has been addressing the Middle East peace process. There were also reports of heated exchanges between the two leaders.

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

"The tribunal coordinator, former Belgian senator Pierre Galand, said the tribunal would compare Israel to apartheid South Africa, putting questions to the Jewish state about crimes against humanity."

Ben Levitas, another vice chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, told JTA that the Jewish community has expressed great concern about the tribunal.

“This is not a court that reflects public opinion," Levitas said. "They have been very selective in their choice of witnesses.”

The anti-Israel kangaroo court is the idea of a radical anti-Zionist Belgian Pierre Galand who says that Israel is a "rogue state" (for more on his anti-Israel militancy click HERE). Among the "tribunal" patrons there is another Belgian, François Houtart, a priest, former professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and Israel hater, who was accused of having molested a young boy from his family: "In 2009, Houtart signed the Appeal for the removal of Hamas from the EU terror list and he became instrumental in the Russell Tribunal against the state of Israel. In 2010, a cousin of Houtart (female) filed an anonymous complaint to the Adriaenssens commission that her brother was sexually abused by Houtart, while he stayed at their house. The priest admits having inappropriately touched his cousin twice around 1970." The cousin decided to come forward when she heard that his supporter were working to nominate him for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. See also: Francois Houtart, Belgian Activist Priest, Admits Sexual Abuse. This fact doesn't seem to embarrass the "tribunal" crowd.JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (JTA) -- Ten years after the notorious U.N. anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa, that devolved into an Israel-bashing frenzy, anti-Zionist forces are mobilizing again to hold another anti-Israel conference in South Africa. This time, Israel will be on trial.The Russell Tribunal on Palestine -- a standing organization that held two tribunals against Israel last year in Barcelona and London -- has been called for Nov . 5-6 in Cape Town “to probe whether the treatment of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories meets the criteria of the United Nations convention against the crime of apartheid.”The South African Zionist Federation has called the event, which is to involve prominent South Africans and already is making national headlines here, “an irrelevant talk shop.”“Despite its name, the Russell Tribunal is not an impartial, accountable judicial body,” a vice chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, Ben Swartz, told JTA. “Rather it is a loose association of lobbyists pushing a narrow, one-sided political agenda, in this case the delegitimization of the State of Israel.”He called it “a pointless political smear campaign by a self-appointed group of anti-Israel activists.”But because of the attention it is receiving in South Africa, the tribunal is likely to be a damaging public relations exercise against Israel. The event has won several key endorsements in the country, including from South Africa’s leading federation of trade unions, the ruling African National Congress party, the South African Communist Party, and Zackie Achmat, the AIDS activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee.While the tribunal said it invited Israel, Dov Segev-Steinberg, the Israeli ambassador to South Africa, denied the claim.

Sunday, 24 July 2011

Just a few hours before the young people were massacred they were being indoctrinated against Israel by the socialist camp organisers. Above well-known anti-Israeli Foreign Minister Store was welcomed at the Utoya camp while in the background posters were hanging with "Boycott Israel" written on them. His rant against Israel was reported by the media as being news. This video shows him criticising Israel.

Source: Ynet
"[...] It was clear from the beginning that Israel would somehow be drawn into the general debate on these terror attacks. The first reason is that there is an obsession in Norway with Israel, and its mentions in the media probably exceed those of, for instance, its giant neighbor Russia whose acts are far more relevant to Norway than those of remote and small Israel.

There were other reasons as well. Terror in a democracy and how to defend oneself against it is an issue that almost by nature draws in references to precedents from Israel. Additionally, the inefficient and slow reaction of the Norwegian police to the Utoya massacre can best be evaluated when one compares it to how Israel reacts to such events.

Pierre Galand, international co-ordinator of the Tribunal, is organising a session of the kangaroo court "Russell Tribunal on Palestine" in South Africa. South Africa was chosen because he accuses Israel of being an apartheid State. The "session" will take place in November in Cape Town and he has enlisted the support of two well-known Israel-bashers Desmond Tutu and John Dugar, as well as ... Winnie Mandela.

"From the side of the churches it is important that we show our support for this tribunal. It is important because just as we declared apartheid a heresy, the new heresy we are facing today is Christian Zionism and because of Christian Zionism there is so much support coming particularly from Christians in the USA. There are many of us who say that "no, we cannot allow the Bible, Christianity and so on to be misused in this way".""Apartheid in Israel" was on all the press conference participants' lips.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Early yesterday afternoon a single boat from the “Fizzled Flotilla” entered Israel’s territorial waters and was stopped by the Israeli Navy. The ship's activists had misled Greek authorities by stating that they were headed for Egypt, but they changed course to head for Gaza.

The boat was boarded without incident; this represented, we hope, the end of protest cruise season this year. The Ship to Gaza movement, which last year brought little or useless aid to Gaza residents, was represented today by the French-Corsican registeredDignite al Karama.Like last year’s Mavi Marmara it is a passenger ship, and carried no aid supplies. But unlike theMavi Marmara, it carried no club- and knife-wielding mercenary jihadists, just a small number of protesters.

A flotilla information press release dated yesterday lists 16 passengers and crew, including Swedish repeat cruiser Dror Feiler. (Seems that Swedish author Henning Mankell missed the boat this time.) Since Feiler was barred from entering Israel for 10 years last year, we will see if Israeli immigration authorities prosecute him this year.

Monday, 18 July 2011

"According to Brotchi the situation at Brussels University is not isolated."It is comparable to what is happening in other universities in Europe and elsewhere with the academic boycott of Israel campaigns where anti-Zionism takes the form of anti-Semitism. But this is no reason to stay without reaction"."

BRUSSELS (EJP)---A prominent figure of the Jewish community of Belgium has resigned from the Board of Free University of Brussels (ULB) after denouncing several grave anti-Semitic incidents within the institution.

Jacques Brotchi, an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and honorary professor at the ULB, told EJP: "I resigned from the Board of the University Foundation which collects funds for research because I deeply deplored the absence of a strong and appropriate reaction from the university authorities to a succession of anti-Semitic incidents."

In his letter of resignation addressed to the ULB Rector, he wrote: "I don’t feel at home anymore at ULB." He added, "I asked if the university of free-examination has not become the university of free anti-Semitism."

The Belgian Senate voted last week a resolution tabled by the Socialists urging the Belgian government to recognize a Palestinian state. Jacques Brotchi and two other Senators from the MR (Liberal) party abstained. "We abstained because the resolution doesn't condemn the political objective of Hamas which is to destroy the state of Israel", Brotchi explained.

The incidents, which have been repeatedly denounced by the Union of Jewish Students of Belgium (UEJB), included the staging of an Israeli military checkpoint on the university campus, the invitation of anti-Semitic French comic Dieudonné to a conference and the absence of reaction to the comments he made, a Nazi-style student feast and the publication of an article in the magazine of Solvay, the [elite] economics and management school, in which the author used anti-Semitic stereotypes and prejudices comparable to those of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

As one student put it, "the situation at the university has become particularly difficult for Jews."

The Union of Jewish Students urged the academic authorities to take measures against the "deteriorating climate" on the campus.

Brotchi, who is also a member of the Belgian Senate for the Liberal party, has met the university authorities to explain his decision but he didn’t had the impression they understood the gravity of the situation.

"I explained them that I know Jewish families who prefer to send their children study at UCL, the Catholic university," he told EJP.

In an interview published last month by the Belgian weekly Le Vif-L’Express, the Rector, Didier Viviers, flatly denied that his university has become anti-Semitic "because of several regrettable incidents", and spoke of a "smear campaign."

According to Brotchi the situation at Brussels University is not isolated. "It is comparable to what is happening in other universities in Europe and elsewhere with the academic boycott of Israel campaigns where anti-Zionism takes the form of anti-Semitism." "But this is no reason to stay without reaction," he added.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

Not a single Belgian senator opposed the resolution. Representatives of the whole political spectrum voted for, with a few who abstained. Belgium is in a deep political crisis but still finds time to express hostility against Israel! Flemish and Walloon alike.

RAMALLAH, July 16, 2011 (WAFA) – Fatah movement Saturday praised the Belgian Senate decision on Thursday to adopt a draft resolution submitted by the Socialist group, calling on the Belgian government and all the EU countries to recognize a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, Saturday said Fatah spokesman Jamal Nazzal.

In a press release by the movement’s Information and Cultural Commission, Nazzal said that the Belgian decision devotes the anti-extremism parliament, as well as expresses the independence and freedom of opinion of the Belgian representatives.

Nazzal said that the cornerstone of our disagreement with some European countries is that they discretely grant Israel the right to veto the Palestinians’ self-determination. [Not Belgium]

He added that Israel’s procrastination in negotiations over the past 20 years is a proof that the occupying state will not allow the Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination, as well as it aims to control the Palestinian future without any time limit.

Fatah expressed hope that the Belgian government will enact the draft resolution and called to terminate the Israeli veto power over the lives of 10 million Palestinians.

Saturday, 16 July 2011

Many Europe will not put things so bluntly but there is a real fear of Israel and Jews (their lobbies, their irrationality, their materialism, their war-mongering, their cruelty etc). That's why the journalist did not question Langeland's assertion.

Today Dagbladet offers an interview with Norwegian historian Nils Rune Langeland, who believes the USA and “the Jews”, being filled with “demonic restlessness”, are the new crusaders.

The Dagbladet interview is titled both Jews take up crusader-sword and point it eastwards (front page) and Tracking the war-like Europe. Journalist Inger Merete Hobbelstad interviews Norwegian historian Nils Rune Langeland on his book Europa – a voyage (roughly translated from Norwegian). Mr.Langeland, an academic at the University of Stavanger, speaks about the martial heritage of Europe as it has come to expression towards Islam. He speaks about the crusades and contemporary decadence and questions the viability of modern multiculturalism. He suggests that Northern Europe might become a future battleground. He also states that the USA and “the Jews”, being filled with “demonic restlessness”, are modern-day crusaders.

Translation:

Nils Rune Langeland: “No, the real heirs of the crusaders are the USA and Israel.
Journalist Inger Merete Hobbelstad: “How?”
Nils Rune Langeland: “There one finds the demonic restlessness which once drove the Europeans. Europe left Christianity during the fourties, when bishop Von Galen spoke up against the nazis, and has struck another path. It is the Jews who pick up the crusader’s sword and point it towards the east.

Interestingly enough, Dagbladet Inger Marete Hobbelstad takes this statement in stride and goes on to question Mr. Langeland about the use of Christian symbolism.

A Belgian-Moroccan group (Union of Belgian-Moroccan Associations, CABM) published a letter condemning the "Welcome to Palestine" campaign, whose Belgian delegation included 5 minors, including at least three Belgian-Moroccan girls (aged 14, 15, and 17).One of the authors of the letter and president of CABM, Hassan El Bouharrouti, told Le Vif/L’Express that his daughter (17) was dragged into this adventure by her mother, though he had warned the police, the border police and the Israeli embassy. He accused the organizers of cultivating hate and antisemitism, when there are still battles to fight in Belgium against racism and social exclusion. Excerpts from the letter:

"We condemn in the strongest terms the use of minors in the International Mission of Solidarity with the Palestinian people on July 8 2011, in which a Belgian delegation participated. The appeal by the organizers to anybody over the age of 9 seems to have elicited no response on this point from the signatories, which included several politicians, academics and associations.

In Belgium minors should never have been exposed to any risk whatsoever while participating in a mission that clearly part of a provocation and confrontation with the State of Israel. This showdown doesn't serve the Palestinian cause which is at the heart of this mission. However, it contributes to fueling antisemitism in the Belgian-Moroccan community. Wanting to make minors into righter of wrongs is absolutely irresponsible on the part of the parents whose role it is to ensure the protection and development of their children, and not to send them on a suicidal antisemitic operation (...) The participants, mostly Belgian-Moroccans, were able to participate in this mission after they collected the necessary funds. Each participant paid 500 EUR for the ticket and 300 EUR for pocket money. Questioned, the Belgian authorities did not see fit to prevent the departure of minors to Israel. They awaited the reaction of the Israeli authorities who finally ensured their security by sending them back to Belgium. We appeal to the responsibility of the Belgian authorities to ensure that minors will not be asked to participate in any operation aimed at exploiting them for political means in a conflict likely to endanger their life or security. We appeal to the subsidizing authorities to guarantee that no funds will be granted for financing such operations for minors."

Thursday, 14 July 2011

The Centre lamented that the message "included no mention of terrorism and, in fact, endorsed a designated terrorist organisation on the UN's own watchlist", also stressing that "the meeting showed its true colors by studiously ignoring our proposal for a balanced resolution, calling 'for peace between the Arab State of Palestine alongside the Jewish State of Israel.'"

All signs point to this Israel-bashing exercise having been organised by a group of influencial and determined Belgian French-speaking Israel-bashers: Pierre Galand (Socialist, Université Libre de Bruxelles, founder of the Russell Tribunal for Palestine), Véronique De Keyser (Euro MP, Socialist). Other guests include (well known for their anti-Israel rhetoric) Neve Gordon, Avraham Burg, Clare Short.

"Brussels Meeting on the Role of Europe in Advancing Palestinian Statehood is a 'serial assault'"

"General Assembly September vote on Palestinian status should be conditioned on prior dismantling of pernicious UN Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People"

In a letter to UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, described his experience as the only Jewish NGO attending the Brussels meeting on "The Role of Europe in Advancing Palestinian Statehood and Achieving Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians."

Samuels noted that "this title was nothing but a political euphemism to campaign for the 27 States of the European Union - and the European Institutions themselves - to endorse the September UN General Assembly vote on a Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence", adding "behind that smokescreen, however, the gathering was yet another 'serial assault' against the State of Israel."

The letter listed "campaigns that were discussed, resonant of a 'Third Intifada', - calls for mass demonstrations, beginning in July, by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and by support groups in Europe and North America under the title, 'United for Palestine Independence': -Veiled threats made by delegates e.g. 'this mother of all conflicts can bring violence to all the nations of the world'; 'Palestine will be liberated by a huge anti-apartheid campaign of global civil society'... 'After the vote, we must move from anti-occupation to anti - oppression in a one-state solution'... 'The boycott must be effectively imposed...'"

The Centre suggested, "perhaps we should not be surprised, as this Brussels meeting - following similar initiatives in Latin America and Africa - was organized by the "United Nations Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People", a monster born in the murky shadows of the notorious 1975 Zionism = Racism resolution, which should have been disbanded with that resolution's repeal in 1991.

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

The Local: A Hollywood film company was planning to set a movie with a Jewish theme in Skåne in southern Sweden but changed its mind due to concerns over anti-Semitism in Malmö.

The Öresund Film Commission, a Swedish-Danish cooperation helping foreign film companies seeking to film in the Öresund region, received an email from the Hollywood firm in February which raised concerns over the safety of the Jewish community, according to a report in the local Sydsvenskan daily.

”Only problem I see with this project… is the huge problem that this being a Jewish story and that the Simon Wiesenthal center in the USA called the south of Sweden a VERY unsafe place for the Jewish community,” the email read.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in December 2010 issued a travel warning urging Jews to exercise “extreme caution” when traveling in southern Sweden.

The warning came following an escalation of attacks directed against Malmö Jews and remarks from Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu perceived to lay the blame on the city’s Jewish community for failing to denounce Israel.

Mikael Svensson at the Öresund Film Commission expressed surprise over the film company’s email and its decision to find an alternative location.

“I have followed the debate, but never thought that it could spread to the film industry and this type of decision,” he told the newspaper.

Skåne has become an established location for Swedish and international film makers with several films based in and around the cities of Malmö and Ystad, such as the criminal detective series “Wallander”, starring Kenneth Branagh.

Thursday, 7 July 2011

Swiss NGO, the Red Cross, hasn't been incapable, in five long years, of doing anything about Gilad Shalit - not event to obtain evidence that he is still alive, but 220 Swiss NGOs are busy supporting the anti-Israel flotilla.

"In Switzerland, more than 200 NGOs are supporting the flotilla. It is being coordinated by a Geneva-based group called Droit pour Tous (Right for All), which in March 2011 sponsored ‘The First International Conference on the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees.” Three members of the Swiss National Council, the lower house of the Swiss parliament, want to sail with the flotilla.

If Gaza has become an obsession for many ordinary Europeans, so too for Europe’s political class, which rarely misses an opportunity to rebuke Israel for a blockade the latter says is necessary to prevent weapons for reaching Iran-backed Hamas militants."

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

It is unclear who Joe The Raven, the author of this poster is. It bears the inscription: "An Oral Sex Holocaust", Dieudonné, the French comedian. It is based on his remark "The DSK affair is Holocaust through Oral Sex". And bears all the hallmarks of anti-Semitism.

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

Simone Veil in person intervened to ask the municipality of Mennecy to abandon its project. The Mayor (UMP, conservative), Jean-Philippe Dugoin, gave in to pressure and the name of the Myrtilles school will not change into Myrtilles-Simone-Weil.

The proposal was opposed by a staggering 92% of parents and neighbours and caused a bitter three-week row.

The move had been thought to be consensual because Mrs. Veil enjoys great respect and popularity, she was elected the favourite woman by the French in 2010.

Simone Veil, aged 82, is a French lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Health under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of the European Parliament and member of the Constitutional Council of France. She is a survivor from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where she lost part of her family, she is the Honorary President of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah. She was elected to the Académie française in 2008. The Town Hall received e-mails with violent anti-Semitic content and some attacking the law legalizing abortion (her hardest political fight, and the one for which she is best-known). The Mayor Jean-Philippe Dugoin spoke of a "disgusting controversy with anti-Semitic connotations". Reacting to the controversy, Mrs. Veil who had welcomed the idea, wrote to ask for the plan to add her name to be dropped.

Sunday, 3 July 2011

Celebrated French newspaper Le Monde is all excited about the flotilla and very supportive of the brave freedom fighters who claim they want to break the Gaza embargo. Le Monde repeats time and again that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Yesterday the paper carried a so-called debate with no less than five opeds about "an independent Palestine tomorrow":

1. "Israel has to renounce its political doggedness", by Denis Bauchard
2. "A Palestinian State should be welcome with open arms", by Avraham Burg
3. "The good solution: federalism not partition", by Sari Nusseibeh
4. "After the "Arab Spring" the time for peace must come", by Ofer Bronchtein
5. "No to unilateral moves!" by Simone Rodan-Benzaquen
Plus on its website:
6. "Another Jewish voice. Exercices in hope", by Rabbi Gilles Bernheim
7. "Peace on Israel", by Yehuda Lancry.

To illustrate its point, the paper also carried a cartoon by Nicolas Vial depicting a brown, angular, ugly, brick fortress in the middle of the sea with around 30 cannons pointing in all directions. Fourteen people are standing on a Star of David which covers one third of the fortress ... ten "innocent" boats are sailing past. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a De Chirico painting! The sense of isolation and violence is pervasive - there is some red which can be interpreted as blood = bloodbath etc.

Today, there are two anti-Israel articles.

We'll come back tomorrow on Elise Barthet, the special flotilla envoy, revelations about how the flotilla idiots are being prepared by a Swedish activist to confront the mighty and bloodthirsty IDF.

Saturday, 2 July 2011

MK Moshe Matalon: "I asked her if she even recognizes us as a state. Of course, she didn't answer."There are an amazing number of European women who are passionate defenders of the Palestinians and passionate haters of Israel. One never sees them at a demonstrations against the massacres perpetrated by the Syrian government against its own people, but they are always there to criticise Israel.

The meeting Monday was friendly until the outburst. MK Shaul Mofaz, who heads the committee, commended President Nicolas Sarkozy for his support of Israel and expressed hope that France would not support the Palestinian statehood bid in September.Then the MKs received a few minutes each to give speeches, many of which focused on Palestinian issues and kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

But when French Senator Monique Cerisier Ben Guiga [photo] took the stand, later on, she expressed harsh criticism against Israel. She claimed the state was practicing "colonialism" and preventing Gazans from leading normal lives.

Finally, she criticized the decision to impair the prison conditions of Palestinian prisoners, and added a personal tale about witnessing settler violence towards Palestinians while on a visit to Hebron.

MK Shaul Mofaz, in his response to the senator, said he would attempt "not to answer in the same manner in which you are speaking" and to maintain the codes of diplomacy.

Friday, 1 July 2011

Anti-Semitic Poster Shocks Geneva Jews - A poster showing a Jewish figure shot by an arrow is spurring outrage in Geneva.The ad for a Swiss national day party planned for Aug. 1 by the extremist group GNC shows a doll wearing a skullcap and an Israeli flag with an arrow in its forehead, evoking the legend of William Tell, with the slogan, “Save Switzerland: Shoot Straight!” in French. "This is a call for the murder of Jews,"Jonah Gurfinkel said. A GNC (Genève Non Conforme) member said the ad was directed against the Israeli government, not Jews. Jewish groups say they are considering a lawsuit.____________________________________________Figure 1 - not antisemitic according the Swiss group:

Figure 2 - after charges of antisemitism, the group made two alterations - it is not anti-Jew, it's anti-Israel:

The poster for the party scheduled for August 1, the national day, promises "music, roasted [!] food, beer and much more":

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme (2008)

"We must be wakeful for a new anti-Semitism, sometimes too easy trivialized. We must be wakeful for a new anti-Zionism that is a hidden anti-Semitism that in reality has not accepted the existence of the state of Israel, even sixty years after its foundation. Europe cannot turn its back on Israel. For Israel is linked to the history of Europe, for more than one reason. We cannot speak about the foundation of the Jewish State without mentioning the Holocaust. There is more, the dream of a new Eretz Yisrael was born in Europe, in the hearts and minds of Theodor Herzl and his followers in the 19th century. And since many centuries, in many thousands of European Jewish households, Pesach, the Jewish feast of Easter, ends with the wish: "Next year in Jerusalem!""..........................................

Charles-Joseph, Prince de Ligne (1801)

"It seems to me that this 1800-year-old anger has lasted long enough."